CRITICAL TIMES

Somalia’s 18 months of reckoning as foreign forces start departing

By Edward Nyembo

Reserved for subscribers

Posted on May 10, 2023 13:51

© African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) peacekeepers outside their convoy in Mogadishu, Somalia, after being hit by a bomb on 3 April, 2023. (Abukar Mohamed Muhudin / Anadolu Agency via AFP) — African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) peacekeepers outside their convoy in Mogadishu, Somalia, after being hit by a bomb on 3 April, 2023. (Abukar Mohamed Muhudin / Anadolu Agency via AFP)

If all goes as planned, ATMIS, the successor to the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) will complete its pullout from Somalia by the end of December 2024. With 18 months to go, some military analysts maintain that army tactics could fall by the wayside, and the country will return to its tribal militias to maintain order.

Foreign forces backed by regional and international partners have been working to drive Al Shabaab out of Mogadishu, the capital, and a large swath of Somalia, bringing a semblance of a functioning state for the past 17 years.

The African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS), which marked its first anniversary in April, was renamed on the insistence of its funders European Union (EU) and the UK to show they are

There's more to this story

Get unlimited access to our exclusive journalism and features today. Our award-winning team of correspondents and editors report from over 54 African countries, from Cape Town to Cairo, from Abidjan to Abuja to Addis Ababa. Africa. Unlocked.

Subscribe Now

cancel anytime

Already a a subscriber Sign In

More Politics

© A pedestrian walks past a mural depicting Russia’s para military mercenaries ‘Wagner Group’ reading : “Wagner Group – Russian knights” on a building’s wall in Belgrade, on November 17, 2022. (Photo by OLIVER BUNIC / AFP)

Cracking down

US sanctions Wagner commander in Mali in latest crackdown on Russian mercenary operations in Africa The US government slapped new sanctions on Russia’s Wagner Group on 25 May, putting African nations on notice that working with the Kremlin-linked mer...

© Liberia’s NEC civic & voter education agents informing eligible voters in their communities to register using Liberia’s 1st Biometric Voter Registration system on 18 March 2023 (photo: twitter)

checks & balances

Liberia ends voter registration amid cases of voter trucking and irregularities The national elections commission ended its voter registration on 11 May for the general election scheduled for 10 October. But the process was not wi...

© Ani Kayode Somtochukwu author of ‘And Then He Sang a Lullaby’

revolutionary literature

Nigeria: Cassava Republic presents ‘And Then He Sang a Lullaby’ Twice a month, we bring you an excerpt from a book to be published by the Nigeria-based Cassava Republic, a renowned publisher on the continent, leadi...

General Sadiba Koulibaly (L) and Mamady Doumbouya (R), president of the transition ©JA Montage: John Wessels/AFP -All rights reserved.

musical chairs

Guinea: Mamadi Doumbouya and Sadiba Koulibaly’s divorce is final In early May, the president of the Guinean transition abruptly dismissed his army’s chief of staff. This decision revealed the heavy tension at the hi...